A LIBERAL peer has written to the Home Office to protest about the continued incarceration of asylum seekers in Liverpool Prison.

The move, by Lord Avebury, comes days after a protest was held outside the walls of the jail to try to highlight the problem which is being mirrored across the country.

It is estimated that up to 80 people from countries as diverse as Cote d'Ivoire, Albania and Jamaica are currently held within the walls of HMP Liverpool at Walton.

And, to try to put pressure on the authorities to do something about their situation, around 60 asylum seekers are currently on hunger strike at the jail.

Last night, one said: "We are always being told that we are wrong but this is the only action that we can take."

Lord Avebury has written to Whitehall to complain about the conditions in which the detainees are held.

In a letter to Home Office Minister, Lord Rooker, the peer said the situation at Liverpool echoed "similar conditions at Cardiff and Winchester jails".

He added: "I know that ministers themselves are uneasy about the practice of detaining asylum seekers in prison."

None of the asylum seekers currently held at any jail in England or Wales has committed any crime.

And even convicted prisoners serving time alongside the detainees have come out in sympathy with them.

One inmate, released yesterday morning, said: "We do not see why they are in here. At least we know when we are getting out, don't we?"

A pressure group, the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns is urging the Government to act quickly to alleviate the situation.

North West spokesman Gary Openshaw said: "At 11.30am last Thursday, asylum seekers and immigration detainees at HMP Liverpool refused to take their mid-day meal and notified outside supporters that they had begun a hunger strike against intolerable imprisonment.

"Detainees in the jail have to live, eat and sleep in what is no better than a toilet, although it is known as a prison cell.

"This is degrading and inhumane."

He added: "Despite their status as 'remand prisoners', detainees are typically locked up for 23 hours a day, denied education and forced to wear prison uniform.

"Some hunger strikers are now being called in for medical checks on dehydration and weight loss, and at least one detainee has attempted suicide."